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Data locked in for spring birds
Oklahoma Mesonet reported 2.14 inches of precipitation over the past weekly period.
Payne County rare birds for the same time frame include ongoing injured American Herring Gull and Neotropic Cormorant at Boomer Lake and Forster’s Tern at Lake Carl Blackwell.
Migration data ended for spring on June 15. The fall flight reports will be returning on August 1 to Nov. 15.
Current and predicted vagrancy conditions are very high since June 16, expected to decrease over the next two weeks. The current conditions are at 2, current magnetic field distortion is extreme at 2.6, and current solar activity conditions are 1.3. Species richness trends show above average with a higher than normal richness in northern California to southern Oregon. Florida has low relative richness at the end of spring migration activity.
Species demographic trends show Western Tanager peaking, while Indigo Bunting is trending downward.
The nationwide rare/vagrant bird list reported the ongoing Steller’s Sea Eagle in Newfoundland, our long-term visitor.
Alberta tagged Lesser Goldfinch and Garganey.
Pennsylvania listed Whitetailed Kite with New Jersey’s Fork-tailed Flycatcher.
Colorado shared Yellow Grosbeaks.
Washington State counted Crested Auklet seen from Seattle’s Discovery Park. Songbirds are peaking in Alaska with several Asian vagrants – Eurasian Dotterel and Taiga Flycatcher in Nome, Lanceolated Warbler, Kamchatka Leaf Warblers, and critically endangered Yellow-breasted Bunting on Buldir Island in the western Aleutians, while Gambell in the Bering Sea shared Pallas’s Bunting.
Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation has confirmed reports of two separate mountain lions with kits in Osage County in October 2024 and an adult with three smaller kits in Cimarron County in December 2024.
These family groups represent the first ODWC-confirmed instances of possible reproduction of mountain lions within the state but has confirmed 85 sightings of individuals since 2022 with an uptick in confirmed sightings in 2023. Some sightings could be the same individual.
The Midwest Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies has also observed an upward trend as well.
Boomer Lake added Canada Goose, Mallards with young, domestic Mallard, Mourning Dove, Chimney Swift, Great Blue Heron, Mississippi Kite, Red-bellied and Downy Woodpeckers, Western and Eastern Kingbirds, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Warbling Vireo, Blue Jay, Fish Crow, Carolina Chickadee, Purple Martin, Barn and Cliff Swallows, Carolina Wren, European Starling with young, Northern Mockingbird, Eastern Bluebird, American Robin, House Sparrow, House Finch, Eastern Meadowlark, Orchard and Baltimore Orioles, Red-winged Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, Common Grackle with young, Prothonotary Warbler, Northern Cardinal, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, American Herring Gull, Neotropic Cormorant, Turkey Vulture, Great Crested Flycatcher, American and Fish Crows, Carolina and Bewick’s Wrens, Pine Warbler, and Indigo Bunting.
Lake Carl Blackwell ticked Wood Duck, Northern Bobwhite, White-winged Dove, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Killdeer, Least and Black Terns, Great Egret, Great Blue Heron, Red-tailed Hawk, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Eastern Phoebe, Tufted Titmouse, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Brown Thrasher, American Goldfinch, Chipping, Field, and Lark Sparrows, Summer Tanager, Painted Bunting, Dickcissel, Franklin’s Gull, Forster’s Tern, Hairy and Red-headed Woodpeckers, Eastern Phoebe, Common Nighthawk, White-breasted Nuthatch, Great-tailed Grackle, and Yellow and Yellow-throated Warblers.
Happy birding!
Deb Hirt is a wild bird rehabilitator and photographer living in Stillwater.
A Yellow Grosbeak.
AMES ST. JOHN, CC BY 2.0
DEB HIRT
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